Originally Posted by shashank.aggarwalI have been quite curious for last few days, what are options for Indians ? I mean outside US and Europe, or maybe in Europe itself.

Developing countries would be fine too.

With what purpose in mind, Shashank? To live there permanently? Or perhaps for a shorter period? Or to set up a business? Or something else?

Outside of the countries you mention, Singapore appears to be a good destination.. especially if you are trained in the Life Sciences( Biology, Medicine...). Canada is still friendly to folks willing to invest ( I forget the threshold, perhaps $ 100,000 ??) in( or build) businesses of whatever size.

Some questions that expats must ask themselves are common regardless of nationality: visas and work permits, salary at home vs abroad, will you like living in a foreign country, family commitments etc. The biggest one, of course, is why? The common answer is more money.

Other questions will be more Indian -and person- specific.

Generally speaking, countries closer to India are the easiest. Dubai and the middle east, Singapore, even Malaysia to an extent, Indonesia.....

Leaving aside business, people with special qualifications or experience have it easier. But then much depends on how much one wants to make.

Worth keeping in mind that the dollar is likely to slide over the years, so what seems good now may seem less good later. Also, with the new tax structure coming up in India, income tax commitments of most middle class Indians are likely to reduce. Have to factor this in.

Originally Posted by capt_mahajanWorth keeping in mind that the dollar is likely to slide over the years, so what seems good now may seem less good later. Also, with the new tax structure coming up in India, income tax commitments of most middle class Indians are likely to reduce.

Two questions :

(i) What are the economic & technical reasons for insinuating that the dollar shall slide ?

(ii) Why are the tax commitments of middle class Indians likely to reduce with the new tax structure ? And what is this new tax structure we are talking of ?

Well, I hope it wasn't just politicians mouthing off, but it was in the newspapers a couple of months (?) back. Pretty major changes, with a large increase in allowed income before any tax is paid at all. I may not be a middle-class Indian, but I am a middle-class-Indian tax payer --- and it would reduce my tax bills to almost nothing. In fact, with falling interest rates reducing my income, probably actually nothing.

Originally Posted by Nick-HWell, I hope it wasn't just politicians mouthing off, but it was in the newspapers a couple of months (?) back. Pretty major changes, with a large increase in allowed income before any tax is paid at all. I may not be a middle-class Indian, but I am a middle-class-Indian tax payer --- and it would reduce my tax bills to almost nothing. In fact, with falling interest rates reducing my income, probably actually nothing.

Ho hum...I know it's the Direct Tax Code and all that but it's very much in the discussion mode. By the time it's discussed threadbare, many provisions shall get whittled down. Don't go by newspapers and cheesy news channels who, in true breaking news fashion, have tom tommed the amazing reduction in tax rates and what not - they are deserving of not the Pulitzer prize but the putzer...

(i) What are the economic & technical reasons for insinuating that the dollar shall slide ?

That's the only way, the massive foreign debt will be paid. Strong dollar policy is just talk, the US will devalue to make exports cheaper, imports dearer and trigger domestic industrial growth. Quite who they will export to, is another question.

Every country under enormous debt ALWAYS prints itself out of the mess and then breaking its own currency. In the last 200 years, that's how things have happened.

As the dollar devalues, the rest of the world too tangoes, devaluing at the same rate; e.g. India M3 supply is about 20%+., otherwise there is no export sector!

This somewhat counters the original point but everyone is waiting to see who will make the first move in destabilising the dollar.